MacMINI/lcd display or powerful laptop(Please read and debate)!!

View Poll Results: maxed out mac mini or laptop with 2gb ram with xp for traktor 3 gig

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  • Maxed Mac Mini

    1 25.00%
  • $1300 Pc Laptop

    3 75.00%
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  1. #1
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    Default MacMINI/lcd display or powerful laptop(Please read and debate)!!

    okay dj tech tools.

    i got an imac 2.33 dual core intel with 1.5 gb with plenty of hard drive space.
    Traktor 3 runs great on it with my soundcard. the thing is that im going to start djing and i space and portability.

    Say im at a gig.
    should i use......?


    a maxed out mac mini with 2gb of ram and a simple lcd display and bluetooth keyboard

    or

    a pc laptop under $1300 with 2 gb and a downgrade to xp

  2. #2
    Tech Mentor Wuz's Avatar
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    I use an XP notebook myself, my gigs are unimportant house parties though.
    Until september though, when i am doing a private club function - which is essentially a birthday party where stuff ups will be tolerated.

    I've lost count of the number of times where i've mixed for 2+ hours without any problems on my XP laptop. BUT i only use the laptop for mixing, there is nothing on there to mess it up, the only thing to mess it up is hardware failure which hasn't happened yet.

    If you run a dedicated system that is kept clean for traktor you should have no problems either way.

  3. #3
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
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    This this $1300 laptop something you are thinking about purchasing ? or has it been purchased ? if its something you own, what are the specs ?

    Is it just me or does that poll make no sense ?
    Last edited by BentoSan; 06-18-2008 at 10:04 AM.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wuz View Post
    I use an XP notebook myself, my gigs are unimportant house parties though.
    Until september though, when i am doing a private club function - which is essentially a birthday party where stuff ups will be tolerated.

    I've lost count of the number of times where i've mixed for 2+ hours without any problems on my XP laptop. BUT i only use the laptop for mixing, there is nothing on there to mess it up, the only thing to mess it up is hardware failure which hasn't happened yet.

    If you run a dedicated system that is kept clean for traktor you should have no problems either way.
    what is ur hardware sir?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by BentoSan View Post
    This this $1300 laptop something you are thinking about purchasing ? or has it been purchased ? if its something you own, what are the specs ?

    Is it just me or does that poll make no sense ?
    yes, the poll is f'd up. its my first time here and i cant fix it.

    anyways, this laptop will either be a intel core duo barebones type or a gateway with some extra punch in it.

  6. #6
    Tech Guru Fatlimey's Avatar
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    The industry idea of "maxed out" for a laptop is a machine fitted out for gaming. The kinds of "maxed out" you need for audio workstation is of a different flavour - maximize IO bandwidth, one fast harddrive, one large one for data storage, RAM, CPU and as much connectivity (USB, firewire, network) as you can lever into the box. Graphics accelleration is not important, onboard graphics is good enough for Ableton Live, onboard sound is fine you're not going to be using it.

    Speccing out a machine for a music workstation can turn up some surprising results. Last time I did it, I bought second-from-top of the range components, picked a motherboard with only the features I needed and ended up with a kick ass Shuttle PC that cost about 2/3 of a standard top of the line gaming machine.

    Custom building for audio workstations is the way to go, and it's all about maxing the IO, RAM and CPU.

  7. #7
    Retired DJTT Moderator DvlsAdvct's Avatar
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    If space and portability are your needs I'd go with the laptop.

    If you can spec it out as needed (as described above) you'll be fine. I spin out on a two year old Dell Inspiron, bare bones when live, and it has only given me a few small problems that required a restart, but never to the point of ending the music (video froze once, but audio kept going, so I spun on CDs while it restarted; it locked up while closed once so when I opened it I had to restart; started bringing out my laptop stand and there haven't been any problems thus far).

    It's secure and reliable about 95% of the time. For a two year old Dell that I haven't exactly treated well, I'd say that's a pretty good number. :-) In my final scratch days I've mixed for around 5 hours with no muck ups. With Traktor 3.3 my longest gigs have been 2 hours and there have been no problems.

    :-)
    It's the FAQ. Read it.

    My Mixes, Mashups and Rants

    Divided we stand
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  8. #8
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
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    Fatlimey brings up a pretty good point with the shuttle pc's , if you dont mind carrying around an LCD screen you could build yourself a really kick arse shuttle pc that would eat most laptops in terms of performance for very cheap.

  9. #9
    Tech Mentor earwax's Avatar
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    if you dont mind carrying an lcd why not just save you money and take the imac...whats the difference? plus i believe they make cases for them. seems i've seen some big name djs who do that.

    however, i would recommend the laptop. i prefer apple but there are alot of great pc's out there. do some research i have seen forum discussions on what motherboards and other components are suppose to work great for audio and can be found in the non-big name suppliers. its all the same component manufacturers and most of the time it doesnt matter who supplies "the box".

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct View Post
    I spin out on a two year old Dell Inspiron, bare bones when live, and it has only given me a few small problems that required a restart, but never to the point of ending the music (video froze once, but audio kept going, so I spun on CDs while it restarted; it locked up while closed once so when I opened it I had to restart; started bringing out my laptop stand and there haven't been any problems thus far).

    It's secure and reliable about 95% of the time. For a two year old Dell that I haven't exactly treated well, I'd say that's a pretty good number. :-) In my final scratch days I've mixed for around 5 hours with no muck ups. With Traktor 3.3 my longest gigs have been 2 hours and there have been no problems.

    :-)
    I used to have some of the same problems with my four year old HP laptop and I found out that it was overheating because the fans were clogged with dust and debris. I've yet to open it up and clean it but for now I have a brand new HP and I use a laptop cooling unit under both.

    I've always been a pc user and the only problems I've had with playing for long periods of time on my HP was due to overheating which I imagine can happen to a mac too. I've mixed for 5 hours straight on my new HP with no problems.

    I've been trying to read up on the Eee PC as a possible dj laptop. Has any tried it out?

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